Fresh off his appearance on That Metal Show‘s season 14 premiere, Def Leppard frontman Joe Elliott sat down to chat with VH1 Classic On Tap‘s Nik Carter. Among other subjects, the singer discussed their recording plans, his love of classic British rock and how the music press has never quite gotten the band. Among their many misconceptions is the idea that Leppard are a heavy metal band. “We’re not dissing metal when we say we’re not metal. We’re not a reggae band either,” said Elliott, but, he added, “Get Scott Ian(from Anthrax), get Glenn Tipton from Judas Priest, and get Lemmy in a room and say to them ‘Def Leppard are a metal band. Discuss.’ They’ll all burst out laughing and say, ‘Off course they’re not. They’re a good hard rock band.” Read more…

You’re in luck today, music fans— because we’ve got a a double helping of interviews with two British rock icons! Def Leppard lead singer Joe ElliottandElectric Light Orchestra brain Jeff Lynne both sat down with VH1 Classic On Tap‘s Nik Carter and shared stories from their legendary careers. When you’re done watching these stellar videos, head over to VH1 Classic On Tap for more exclusive interviews with the biggest names in classic rock.

Kendrick Lamar releases a brand new single, Rita Ora is on deck to replace Kylie Minogue on BBC1′s The Voice, Lana Del Rey announces two gigs in a rather ghoulish location and Stephen Colbert clowns rock dad Jeff Tweedy in this morning’s First Dibs. Read more…

Today marks the beginning of the biggest sports event in the known world. At 4 pm this afternoon, when Croatia takes the field against hosts Brazil, The FIFA World Cup will begin and soccer fans worldwide will be riveted to the results as 32 national teams compete over the next month until the championship game July 13th. It’s a fact that soccer (or football, as it’s known outside America) is much more popular around the globe than it is in the U.S.A., and every country has it’s own leagues where regional teams duke it out for their respective national titles. Given the high concentration of British hard rock and heavy metal musicians, it makes sense that many a UK rocker has a beloved soccer team they root for, or as they would say, support. And it’s not just the British. The heavy metal strongholds of Germany and Brazil also have rich football traditions and musicians support their local and national teams as well. Take a gander at 25 hard rock and heavy metal musicians, from Iron Maiden‘s Steve Harris to the past and present members of Sepultura, and find out their favorite football clubs (American translation: soccer teams) in celebration of The World Cup!

Two of hard rock and heavy metal‘s most legendary acts are making a major announcement today at 2pm and you can live-stream their press conference HERE! Groundbreaking artists Def Leppard and Kiss Leppard are hush hush about what it is but theories are running rampant on the internet. Read more…

You only hear them nowadays on late-night compilation commercials or as Muzak at the dentist’s office or at inebriated karaoke nights. Most of them are coated in a thick layer of Velveeta cheese and full of single entendres and metaphors so simple a three year old could have written them. But you know you love them. How can you not? Those “manly” hair bands slowing it down and showing a more sensitive side and often coming up with some of their catchiest and most-career defining hits. From Poison to Journey to Def Leppard, going the route of the power ballad was an absolute given in the 1980s if you were in a hard rock band. And yes, we do take responsibility for keeping these songs popular and the artist’s careers alive. We’ve even employed some of them! But it’s all out of love, just like the songs themselves. Here’s 10 Power Ballads We Just Can’t Stop Loving. And you can’t either. Admit it.

The philosopher Nietzsche once said “That which does not kill us makes us stronger.” In the case of the following musicians, that which didn’t kill them made them legends. Each of them survived a traumatic injury that left them missing a body part and despite their handicap they still went on to achieve greatness, in some cases literally changing the course of popular music. In the case of Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi, the fact that he lost the ends of two of his fingers led to a change in his playing technique which enabled the birth of the heavily distorted guitar sound at the heart of heavy metal. Others were born with congenital conditions but never let that hold them back from pursuing their musical dreams including Kiss frontman Paul Stanley. So let’s give a hand to those inspiring musicians who lost a piece of themselves, but were willing to give an arm and a leg to make music history. Oh, sorry, poor choice of words.

Last week I shared a gallery of my personal fave superfan possessions from years ago, and this week I’m sharing yours! Without a doubt, our VH1 Classic fans had the most music pride this week, and we thank you for sharing your rad pieces – from crazy costumes to guitar pick piles to music shrines. We saw a lot of love for Def Leppard, KISS and Van Halen - and we love that you’re still rocking those concert t-shirts day-to-day. But enough of my babbling about your total awesomeness – check it out for yourself! Above you’ll find the roundup from select VH1 fans whose music merchandise photos made the final cut. Rock on rockers!

It’s the season where every convenience store is filled with candy from isle to isle – and we can’t seem to escape the sweetness. So to quench your daily dose of high fructose corn sizzurp, we’ve picked two amazing songs to Face-Off. Warrant‘s “Cherry Pie” and Def Leppard‘s “Pour Some Sugar On Me” are two serious hard (candy) rock songs I can’t stop listening too… and I bet you’re on the same sugar rush. So vote now and tell us which music video is tastier. And don’t forget to brush your teeth.